Concerns of Singaporeans - Rising cost of living, influx of foreign workers

I was listening to a conversation with a few schoolmates today. There was this person who is a member of an opposition political party. He was criticizing the government for certain issues that I would list down below.

1. Foremost, it is the rising cost of living. One aspect of the rising cost of living is the increasing rental business cost. In particular, he addressed rising business cost for hawkers who rent places for their stores. He says that there is an oversight by the government to prevent middlemen from renting the places and then leasing them out to hawkers at a higher price as this raises the rental cost for food centres. This raise in cost is in turn passed on to consumers.

2. He criticizes the government for the influx of foreign workers, which he argues decreases quality of living of Singaporeans. He says that these foreigners who come into Singapore take up PMET jobs. They are able to work longer hours because they do not have family commitments. As such, employers prefer to hire them instead of the locals. He argues that this is an unfair disadvantage to the locals, and that it runs counter to government’s objectives to promote family life and encourage couples to have children.

3. He also argues that the lack of regulation of MNCs that come in to set up their operations in Singapore. He says that these MNCs employ foreign people from the west who have international expertise in management to oversee operations. Locals are unable to acquire employment in these top-tier management posts, which is a vicious cycle as they are then unable to acquire the requisite experience.

I have heard criticisms of the current PAP government from various people. I tend to be a skeptic, and would like to evaluate the performance of the PAP for myself. I suppose I would like to take a bigger interest in politics so that I will make informed choice when voting in the next general election. The most recent topic of controversy would be the White Paper on Singapore population that was passed in Singapore parliament by the PAP-dominated parliament a few months ago. There was another mass turn-out yesterday on labour day to protest against the White Paper. I have yet to evaluate the merits of the White Paper for myself. On one hand, the PAP government seems absolutely firm in their conviction that Singapore requires an intake of foreigners to sustain its economic competency in the future. On the other hand, there are many people in the public, and eminent opposition figures who see this measure as a bad one that would have negative consequences for the people of Singapore.

I am not sure who is right on the matter, or what would be a better take on population policies in Singapore, and it could certainly help with more objective opinion in the media from academics or experts examining the issue.